Crotch Shot

Is it bad that I laughed at this?  (NSFW)

ATF Clarification

Hat tip to Say Uncle.

Emerson, Lake & Palmer I Believe In Father Christmas

This is an interesting holiday song that I've never heard before.

Merry Christmas!

"And there were in the same country shepherds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them! And they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, “Fear not! For, behold, I bring you tidings o great joy, which shall be to all my people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ, the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the Heavenly Host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace, and good will toward men."

The price of Christmas gifts.

My brother has a son and a daughter, both under 4 years of age.  

I try to keep the cost of their presents somewhat equal, so not as to favor one over the other.  Also, I only try to buy them one item.  If I get one two items, and the other one...  Yeah, they don't like that.  

So I see the toy that I want to buy for my nephew at Walmart for $20.  Not bad, but they don't have the one I want for my niece.  So the next day I roll out to Toys R Us.  They have the toy I want for my niece for $20, and they have the toy I want to get my nephew in stock!  But it's running $35.  

Uh, no.  

Purchase my niece's toy, then scoot over to Walmart.  The toy I want to get him has dropped to $10.  What???  I'm all over that.  

On an aside, I took my daughter toy shopping with me.  I specifically told her that we were shopping for her cousins.  Adorable Preciousness did very well.  She did want to play with the toys, but I don't think she did anything unreasonable.  She didn't try to take anything and there was no crying.  However, after we had her cousin's toys she could not quite grasp why we were not going straight to their home to give them their gifts.  

I wish you and yours a Merry Christmas!  

"It's symbolic of his struggle against repression."

"It's symbolic of his struggle against reality."

Bestamvsofalltime "Into The Labyrinth" Anime MV || by Lolligerjoj

Here's one that I enjoy, that I apparently have not shared.  The music is "Into the Labyrinth" by Kraddy.



The anime used are the series Bakemonogatari, Nisemonogatari, and Nekomonogatari.  Visually beautiful animes, but pretty weird.

Computer work.

Some people have issues working on computers.  Either you get it or you don't.  I grew up working on older cars and trucks from the 60's and 70's.  They were simple and I understood them.  Throughout the 80's they introduced a lot of gizmos and gadgets, such as ABS, fuel injection, smog control, et al.  I was never good with electronics and it all intimidated me.  I got lost (and intimidated) on how to work on cars, other than some really basic stuff.

I got tired of having a junky computer, and not being able to afford the computer I wanted.  Someone pointed out to me an article that explained how to build a PC and they did it in a way that made me understand.  I took the challenge and built my machine, and suddenly I felt like I was under the hood of one of the old farm trucks.

I understood.

Oddly enough, that has made me less intimidated about modern car repair and I've been able to figure out stuff that stymied me for the longest time.

Now if car manufacturers would stop riveting items in.  I'm tired of drilling them out.

Why the Hard Sell?

Local "resorts" often try to lure you in to their sales for time shares.  So, you can get a day or so at a resort plus other freebies if you sit through their spiel.  It can be a good trade off.

So we recently got called up for this.  $200 in gift cards, and three days at a resort.  I'm actually up for this because the resort has a lot of stuff and I've always heard good things about it.  Sitting through a two hour sales pitch?  Easy peasy.

But they can't make it easy.  They want my wife on the phone at the same time.  And then they have to transfer us to their sales person.  And the sales person has to "load everything into the computer" Just wasting time and using that time to ask us personal questions.  Normal sales behavior.

I was interested.  I thought my wife would like it.  But they kept pushing for us to come either the last weekend of November or in December.  Really?  We have enough going on during that time frame.  And then they pushed for us to call in sick to work in order to do this.  Uh, no.

How do you loose a sale on a product that the consumer is interested in?  By following a stupid checklist on how to make a sale and then being an asshole to the consumer when they let you know that it won't fit in their time frame.  Easy enough.

Uhh...

I had something to post.

But I forgot what it was.  Completely.

Carry on.

Offcier: 1 Inmate: 0

I found contraband, thus I entered the cell as in accordance to policy.  The inmate came up from behind, entered the cell, and tried to lock himself in the cell with me.

I walked out of the cell.  

The inmate was carried out.  

I know that there are plenty of inmates that are bigger and badder than I am in the jail.  Buddy, you weren't even close.  

Shiny Toy Guns - Ghost Town

And this is tho one that started it all for me.

Mystery Skulls Animated - Ghost

Danse Macabre; Camille Saint-Saëns

   But the hands stopped reaching for them and the spectre made no attempt to block their exit.  He only offered them a sad, tired look.  The children, their fear subsiding, found themselves hesitating despite their instinct to run.

   The floating figure raised his fiddle to his chin and began sliding the bow across its strings.  The music it sang out was old and familiar despite neither child having ever heard it before.  With the chords came memories, though not those of either child.  The lives of those buried played out in notes - the hardships, the loves, the regrets, and the hopes set to song, and that's when the children realized this was not the place of evil the older kids had teased about.  The spirits were not angry and spiteful as the tales of the old men had promised.  The only truth the children had ben told was these ghosts hungered for life, but not to feed.  They wished to be a part of it once more, if only briefly.

   As bony hands clapped in time and the fiddle played, the two children danced through the cemetary for those who could not.



R. K. Milholland

Concrete Blonde - Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man

Yet another one of Concrete Blonde's tunes dealing with "the other side," as you will.



And as I said before, this is the song that started it all off for me.

Concrete Blonde - Bloodletting

Hmm...  I don't think that I've posted any Concrete Blonde music on this site.  Obviously I'll have to change that this Halloween Season.



I first fell in love with Concrete Blonde when I was in undergrad.  I know that their break out hit was "Caroline" but I never really cared for that song.  What got me to buy their first album was that the local radio station played "Ghost of a Texas Ladies Man" on Halloween.  I immediately snagged that album and found that they did a bit of music that I really enjoyed.



Therefore I present to you their pinnacle of their "gothic" sons, "Bloodletting (The Vampire Song)."

Face Your Fears | Anime Expo 2014 Best Drama

Let's start posting some Halloween anime/music a little early.

I work for idiots.

An inmate filed a complaint against me for injuring him during a use of force incident.  As with any use of force incident, reports were written and the videotape was reviewed.  The good news is that my name is not on any of those reports because I WAS OFF ON THE DAY OF THE INCIDENT!!!

I found out about the complaint in briefing.  The Sergeant made the announcement and we all laughed because it was pretty funny in a dark humor sort of way.  And thus I assumed that the whole incident was closed because it was pretty obvious that I had nothing to do with the issue.

So, I get called up to Administration and given the third degree by Internal Investigations and some of the top brass of my agency.  The fact that I was not physically anywhere near the agency seemed to make no impression.  Plus, being IA, they asked about anything and everything just to try to get me to incriminate myself to anything.  I know my job, I know Policy and Procedure, and I know that I do right when I am at work.  It was a wasted fishing expedition for them but a very stressful hour and a half for me.

I work for idiots.

Anime I am currently watching.

I'm currenty watching Love, Chunibyo, & Other Delusions -Heart Throb-.  This is the second season of Love, Chunibyo, & Other Delusions which is also nicknamed Chu-2.  It's actually a pretty good series.  I didn't think that a romantic comedy would be my type of anime, but I'm enjoying it.

Before this, I watched The World God Only Knows and also The Devil is a Part Timer.  I'm waiting for the The World God Only Knows: Goddesses to come available on Hulu.  (The God Only Knows Oriatorio is awesome to listen to!)  I enjoyed The Devil is a Part Timer, but I had issues with the fact that the lead was a genocidal maniac that seemed to turn a new leaf and everyone thought that all was good.

I was having trouble getting into The Irregular at Magic High School.  I'm not a big fan of "sibling love" as it squiks me out.  And the hero was just becoming a type of "I know what to do every time and I'm better than you" type.  It didn't feel like the fights were much of a challenge.  I was hoping that I would like it as it seems to be a long series, but...

I'm currently subscribed to Sword Art Online II and The Awesomes on Netflix.  They are shows that I am enjoying.

I want to find more Anime to watch.  I prefer action and I'm not a big fan of Fan Service.  I'll have to make a list of anime that I've watched before and split it between what I like and dislike later.

Comments available at A View from the Porch.

I saw that Tam left a post open for comments.

Interesting.

No comments so far.  I did not leave a comment.  1) I have nothing intelligent to say on the subject.  2) People who know her and that are more well spoken should use the opportunity, not odd people like I.

I know my animation.

I am a fan of foreign films.  Especially quirky foreign films.  I'm also a fan of foreign music.  And by foreign, I mean by not produced in the USA.  I'm sure someone out there would complain if I did not point that out.

Now, I don't claim to be an expert in any way, shape or form.  I just enjoy what I enjoy and I keep it to myself.  Mostly because I don't know many people who really "get" my interest, or they know so much that I can't keep up with them.  So to sum it up, I'm an amateur foreign film enthusiast and all I really care about is what interests me.

But I like it when my prior knowledge meets up with my current knowledge.  Flipping through Hulu, I ran across a trailer for this french animation.  "Jack and the Cuckoo Clock Heart."  I saw the backgrounds and the animation and I immediately knew it was dubbed.

Why does this interest me, you ask?  (Other than the fact that it's foreign and that it's animation...)  It's because I recognized it, even though I'd never seen it before.  I did a quick Google search and I was right!

I had run across a video that Dionysos had done of their song ""Tais-Toi Mon Coeur" several years ago.  I remember playing it so often online.  (I'm currently trying to find a good HD version of it online.)  But the fact that I can tie a movie trailer in with a video that I've not watch in several years impresses me greatly.

Would it impress anyone else?  I doubt it.

And Tam has hung up her hat.

Yesterday I noticed that A View from the Porch was locked down.  Turns out that apparently Tam had a stalker.  No Lawyers - Only Guns and Money and Shall Not Be Questioned have info on the incident.

I'm not going to write too much on her decisions to stop posting.  Others can say it better than I.  As a matter of fact, they already have.

What I can say is that View From the Porch stood at the top of my must read daily blog list.  It was always the first blog I read.  The constant updates and excellent writing made it a lot of fun to read.  Her updates will be missed.

 

"A View From The Porch" is blocked.

Oddly enough, A View From The Porch will not open.  It has apparently been set to "This blog is open to invited readers only."

I wonder what happened.  I'm sure that I'll find out soon enough.

I guess if I really wanted to know what is going on, I'd head on over to The Firing Line.  Tam often posts over there, so I'm sure that someone will have the details up quickly.

I'm going to the gun show today!

I know that Tam will often post a little ditty when she announces her sojourn to her local Second Amendment and beef jerky exhibition.

I'm no where near that creative.

Suffice it to say, I'm just headed out in order to look around.  It does not help me much that I'm broke and I won't be taking much cash with me.  It also does not help that I'm in a major market thus there will not be all that many deals for me to find.

If I'm lucky, I'll come home with some new hearing and eye protection.  Maybe I'll even pick up a holster and a few slings.  Normally I come home with bupkiss, but that's often because I don't have any play money at all.

I'll keep you posted.

Or not.

Drone video of the old Virginia Renaissance Faire. (Fredricksburg/REC site.)

I remember the original Virginia Renaissance Faire.  Everyone tells me that it ran for three seasons, while I remember that it ran for four.  (Mostly because I remember which dates I took to the faire.)

The Virginia Renaissance Faire (VARF for short) was owned by Renaissance Entertainment Corporation.  (REC for short.)  REC had a number of faires throughout the US, traded on the stock market, and even had their own Visa card.  When they came to Virginia, I thought this was the biggest thing ever.  I was even approached and asked to work at VARF the first two years.  (I turned it down, but that is a story for another time.)



I remember so much about this faire, and I've forgotten so much.  Not too far from the entrance was a herb garden.  Somewhere I have a photograph of my friends and I against a stone wall next to that garden.



I used to try to catch every show by a performer who went by the name of Rollo Pollo or Rolo Polo.  He changed his stage name and I caught his act later up at Tuxedo/NYRF, and for the life of me I can't recall what that new "name" is.  (Heck, I found his Facebook page a few weeks ago.)  As a matter of fact, I took to carrying around a lighter just so he would take it from me for his act.



This was where I first heard the Minstrels of Mayhem.  I didn't appreciate them as much as I should have initially.  But they grew on me and I have every single one of their CD's.  They broke up a few years ago and I took it a bit personally.

I remember the mud beggars.  I remember someone on stilts dressed as a tree.  I remember the jousts, the storytellers, the arts and crafts.  I remember the people and the playtrons.







The last time I was on the site was to do clean up work.  Out Of The Woodwork Productions tried to restart the VARF and was in talks to rent the site.  There were so many of us cleaning up and cutting grass by hand.  Someone had brought a tractor in to bushhog, and the tractor had issues.  Someone had stolen a very expensive electrical panel, and caused extensive damage taking it out.  I was upset at myself because I didn't walk the entire site, but consoled myself with the fact that I'd be back another day to volunteer to get the park back together.



Unforturnately, talks between OotWW and REC fell through.  OotWW is now hosing a smaller VARF in Spotsylvania which includes a number of the original staff, so the dream still lives on.

Meghan Trainor - All About That Bass (Home Free a cappella cover)

This is quite interesting.  "All About That Bass" covered by Home Free.

So unmotivated.

I need to get motivated.

I'm not sure what is up with me.  I'm not doing... Well, anything.  I should be calling people and making appointments.  I should be doing maintenance on the car.  I should be cleaning the house.

I should at least clean out the litter box.  The cats are in revolt.

I've just been completely unmotivated.  This lazy mood of mine has lasted about two or three weeks.  Even when I am on my computer, I don't do much of anything productive.  Heck, I forgot to balance part of my finance tracker for about three weeks.  (Kind of like balancing a checkbook, but it covers all of my finances such as loans and credit cards.)

At least Iv'e gotten my clothes washed.  One of the tasks I hate is washing Adorable Preciousness' clothes.  Toddler, so everything is stained in some way or another.  I have to treat each piece of clothing.  It's time consuming.  Also we run through a lot of stain treater.

At least I updated my blog.  My three readers will be pleased when they notice.  =o)

The Ultimate Hi-Point

I'm sharing this just because everyone else is!



And it made me laugh.

DC's handgun ban is now unconstitutional

This: Yahoo: Federal judge rules DC ban on handguns unconstitutional.

And this: Says Uncle: A civil rights victory.

And the big one: Alan Gura: Victory in Palmer v. DC

The court case was Palmer v. District of Columbia.  The progress of gun rights marches forward!

I miss Love Me Dead.

She moves through moonbeams slowly

She knows just how to hold me

And when  her edges soften

Her body is my coffin









I'm just feeling nostalgic tonight.

Bestamvsofalltime ▪ Vacant Heart AMV [Edited by JazzsVids]

In lieu of actual content, here is an AMV!  The music is "Not In Love" by Crystal Castles.



(Yes, I need to post more...  I guess.)

Peter Sellers: A Hard Day's Night

The Beetles hit "A Hard Day's Night?"  Who knew that it was influenced by King Richard III?



 

Happy Birthday to The Whiteboard!

Congratulations on 12 years of web comics to The Whiteboard. 

Today, the inmates won.

Most of the time, we win.

Sometimes, the inmates win.

Today, the inmates won.  Without threats, without violence, the inmates won.  Through slow pushing, an incoherent bureaucracy, and an administration that acted without investigation.  The inmates won.

Accomplish your goals! Accomplish nothing!

Today's goal:  To get up and moving first thing this morning so I can get all of my errands done by noon!

Reality:  I forgot to charge my cell phone last night, so it was almost dead this morning.  My wife has the checkbook so I can't pay the bills.  (Not everything is convenient to pay online.)  No one seems to be in their office when I call them.  And Adorable Preciousness keeps demanding my attention...  Distracting me from hammering out the math to pay certain bills.

I'm frustrated that I'm not accomplishing any of my goals.  So, I abandoned them.  Took it easy and pushed my daughter on the swing.

I'm already about three weeks behind on my work.  What is another day?

Kristin Moura - Once Called Home

I love the music on this!  The words, the tune...  And the video is even really good!



She used to be a guild mate of mine in World of Warcraft.  She transferred off to another server, but she was always friendly and kept in touch.

Enjoy the music!

Mental Health Issues and Law Enforcement

On the street, there are easy ways and hard ways for Law Enforcment to help those with mental health issues.

The hard way, yet proper way, is to get a "Green Warrant" or Temporary Detainment Order.  This requires the Officer/Deputy to spend hours and hours of their time attempting to get Mental Health Officials to find a bed somewhere for this individual.  This is the long, hard way.  This often will involve their time and keep them off the street and unavailable for calls for up to twelve hours.  This will lead into overtime, or more likely "trade time" so the counties don't have to pay extra.  Understandably, most of the deputies/officers will tell us that their supervisors discourage them taking this course of action.

Unfortunately, the easy way is to arrest the individual.  It is quite easy to drum up a reason to help arrest an individual whom has an altered mental status.  Once the individual is under arrest, then it is up to the jail to get the new inmate assistance on their mental health issues.  The Officer/Deputy spends no more than an hour (often less) tied up with the arrest, and then they are back on patrol.  However, if you are the son of an influential politician (Say, Gus Deeds) then local law enforcement tend to treat you with kid gloves.  

Sometimes it is easy, such as getting their previous medical history and getting them back on their medications.  Sometimes the inmate needs to be seen by mental health and they will diagnose and medicate them while they are incarcerated.  Sometimes the inmate needs to be transferred to the state forensic facility in order to receive proper treatment...  but there are only a handful of state forensic facilities capable of handling inmates.   This is a long process for most inmates.

We had one inmate who was HUGE!  And he was dangerous.  Any time we dealt with him we had to pull multiple officers, we had to restrain the inmate, et al.  This inmate was assault and destructive.  Mentally, the best way to describe him as if there was no one home upstairs.  His behavior was random, and often he would not acknowledge other people.  We delt with him for a year, yet mental health kept claiming that he was faking the entire time.  It took a year of his behavior in jail (whereupon the judge kept kicking him out of court) before the forensic facility took the inmate.  That inmate is still in that facility.

But we had one inmate who's dad was a lawyer.  The kid was a little snot.  He took a small amount of a medication that I will not identify due to liability reasons.  That inmate refused his medications for a long time, and we knew that he was doing so in order to act out in court.  (This trick is a common trick among inmates.)  Well, he acts out in court and due to him having a well connected father and a well paid lawyer that inmate was in the forensic unit the next day.

Money talks.

What was odd to me was that the inmate came to court directly from the forensic unit, and got a slap on the wrist sentence.  The inmate still got jail time, just not much of it.  It was passed on from the security unit that the inmate tried to spit out his medications undetected in order to "freak out" in court a second time.  The way the news reported it, our facility neglected to give him proper mental health treatment.  We got the blame, because under HIPPA we can't make medical statements.  (I doubt that the media bothered to contact our agency in the first place, or if they did it was a last minute call and we didn't have time to prep a statement.)

Our mental health system is screwed up.  Part of the problem is that people don't want to work hard (or are discouraged from working hard) and do their job properly.  But often the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing.

There is the money... but I can't get to it.

I'm getting kind of frustrated at life.  I've been trying to knock out my bills for years now.  I'll admit that I wasn't all that "smart" when we started paying off the bills, and we had made some dumb purchases.  A bit of our initial financial advice ended up being pretty dumb...  But I will state that it seemed to be good advice before the recession hit.

We got onto a smarter plan of paying off our bills, but we still had a lot of major issues.  Our oil furnace had a catastrophic failure despite getting regular maintenance and repairs.  (We ended up replacing the whole system, and it does not perform to our expectations.)  We had a car with a ton of maintenance issues, when the transmission went we decided that the cost of the repair would go towards a down payment of a used car.  (And we paid it off in three years!)  My wife got laid off.  Every time I got close to paying off a credit card, we'd have another emergency or...  or something.  It got frustrating when I ended up paying one credit card off multiple times because the other was maxed out and "something" would happen.

Finally I have the car paid off, the new heat pump paid off, and all of my credit cards except for one is paid off!  Less than $1000 to go!

I keep trying to work Overtime at work.  That is good money.  I take all the options I can.  For some reason or other I keep missing out on it.  Suddenly I get the opportunity to make approximately $500 in overtime!  Whee!  I'm signed up for two days of work, even though this made my wife very angry.  (She gets upset at me choosing work over family time...  She is more emotional, I'm more logical but that is how it works.)

So, I come down to this weekend.  I can earn approximately $500 by working Overtime on Friday and Sunday.  Come Friday, Adorable Preciousness is sick thus I have to stay home with her.  I got a call and I was advised that the reason for overtime on Sunday has now "gone away" thus I will not be needed.

/seething

I'm so close.  I see the money, but I can't grab it.

So close.

Working Showers and Gun Stores

My post on mental health and law enforcement is dragging along slowly.  I can't work on it more than a few minutes without an interruption.  I'll have it up eventually.

The downstairs shower is finally fixed.  The original Sears brand faucet was installed in 1950, and the innards had finally rusted out.  Due to the piping, we moved the faucet to the far left of the tub and were able to snag a large plate to cover the original holes.  It looks really funny, but it was done for $200 and it was a lot cheaper than my original plan which was to gut the entire bathroom.  (My wife is in love with the tiled walls, which are another original from 1950.)

I've been looking at getting an AR for a long time.  One store has what I want for a really good price...  But another store has a Daniel Defense in stock for way more than I can afford.  Went to a few local gun stores to get some ideas.  There was a lot of temptation, but nothing I was ready to snap up.

I rarely hear a lot of B.S. at a gun store, but I heard some today.  One store is pushing some off brand revolvers.  The mouth behind the counter stated that "if you pull the trigger and it doesn't fire, then you pull the trigger again until it does."  If you pull the trigger and it doesn't fire (squib) then you keep the muzzle of the revolver pointed down range in case it cooks off.  If you pull the trigger on a squib, then the cylinder rotates and you may have a round cook off out of battery.  Ouch.  They stated that with a pistol, the bad round would just stay in the chamber.  Ever heard of Tap, Rack, Shoot?

They also claimed that you can fire a revolver in any position (IE: upside down) which you could not do with a pistol as it would jam.  Only with a cheap pistol.  Through my agency, I've done a bit of tactical training and I can tell you that my Glock can handle a lot of rough handling and still cycle.

And now I present to you... The Weather!

The title is my attempt at paraphrasing the music intro of the podcast "Welcome to Nightvale."  Quite an entertaining podcast.

So, it finally got warm.  Winter did not want to go away.  The temperature rose and I opened all the windows of the house.  It was wonderful!

Now it's cold again.

I've got the windows shut.  I have the heat on.  I'm miserable.  (Doesn't help that I didn't bother to shut the storm windows, so there is a bit of a chill in the air.)

Of course, in a few weeks I'll have the AC on and I'll be complaining about the heat.  Oh well.

How do I use this cuteness to conquer the world?

I've realized something.  My daughter, Adorable Preciousness, can wrap anyone around her finger without even trying.  I went to a book signing tonight and they were giving away T-Shirts to "the most entertaining in line," whatever that meant.  My daughter was twirling and singing and running in circles, as most little ones are wont to do.  (She doesn't stay still unless she's either asleep or watching Bubble Guppies.)  I could have had a shirt, except I didn't want one.  There was a photographer that took about two dozen photos of her...  and then they asked me to sign a release.

I've got to figure out how to take that cuteness, bottle it up, and weaponize it.

Spring has sprung!

We've been dealing with bitter cold, and the other day was the first day of spring.  Oddly enough, we go from the 30's to the 70's for one day only.  

Thus, we took advantage of our 70 degree Saturday!  

Went out to the local Irish festival, held by a Catholic church the week after St. Patrick's Day.  Their reasoning is that you don't do an all out party on his day, but wait a week to celebrate it.  Yeah, sounds kind of awkward coming from me but I can see the logic in it.  On that note, it has no competition and it raises a ton of money for the church.  

Adorable Preciousness ate her first corn dog today.  She loved it.  Then she realized that there was a HOT DOG under all of that breading.  Next thing I know it's been devoured and she is gnawing on the stick.  Ha ha!  

I had a good day.  Good memories.  The rest of the week is supposed to be cold and rainy, and maybe even snow.  Glad I enjoyed it while I could.  

Chest Compressions

Before I start, a little history on me.  I used to be an EMT.  I was nothing special, low man on the totem pole.  The majority of the members of my squad were certified in Advanced Life Support.  IE: They could run the fancy electronic equipment, insert IV's, and push the drugs.  And a significant number of our staff were older.  Therefore with all of my training, I was pretty much relegated to the grunt work.  Cleaning out the ambulances, hauling the equipment, pulling the stretcher, et al.  I never really shined as an EMT because I was pretty much eclipsed by everyone else.

But on that note:  Due that I was young and strong and not allowed to play with the fancy equipment or drugs I would always be designated to do chest compressions during CPR.  It would be a team effort, one would run the IV, one would manage the airway/rescue breaths, and I would always be on the chest.  So, I've had a lot of practice.  But I've never had a save.

But, I've let my EMT certification lapse.  I haven't run in well over a decade and a half.  But I've kept my CPR certification up to date.

Recently I had to do CPR on an inmate.  (Guess my line of work.)  I can't tell you the last time I did CPR on someone.  But when the medical staff member said to start CPR, I jumped right in.  Just like the old days.  The inmate was packed up and passed on to EMS, and our day continued as what passed as normal at our facility.

Afterward, everyone congratulated me on the job I did.  But it wasn't just me.  I was just in the front when action needed to be taken.  And what I did could have been done by anyone else.  Also, I wasn't the only person doing something.  Another officer did rescue breathing.  The medical personnel did the IV.  It was a TEAM effort.  What I did, I had done before.  So it didn't feel any different.

Well, it didn't feel any different until someone asked me if I was OK.  I had no clue what they were talking about.  When they explained it...  Well, I had done CPR before, so I really didn't "think" about what I had just done.  It was action, not thought.

Thinking about something makes it a lot worse than it really is.  First off, I was coming off of the adrenaline rush.  Second, I had accepted it as something that needed to be done as opposed to something with emotional consequences.

But once I was asked that question, "Are you OK," that's when it kind of hit me.  I had to think of the issue, and about the inmates well being.  And then I got a little shaken.

Pocketbook, or kitty potty?

So...  The wife and I are trying to save money and pay off bills.  Of course that means that I am trying to save money, because every day we get a box of something or other dropped on our front porch addressed to my wife.  

Today, my wife got a box that contained two "pocket books."  Well, one hooks to the car seat so it's more of an organizer.   The second one was a HUGE canvas pocketbook with pockets on the inside and the outside.  And it is even insulated so you can keep food in int.  According to my wife, it would be perfect for travel and vacations.  

Sadly, I looked at them and all I could think was that they were just another container for our cats to pee in when they get miffed at us next.  

I'm done with this snow!

Being in the south, we normally don't deal with much snow.  Normally we'll get one or two snowstorms a season.  Sometimes they are big, sometimes they are small.  For the past few years, most of the snows where small and really didn't stick to the roads.  (There were about two exceptions.)

This year, the snow has been terrible.  It keeps coming.  And it keeps sticking.  The good news is that we've only lost power once.  The bad news is that it seems to keep hitting on my days off.  I work shift work so my days off rotate, but unfortunately that means that I've been stuck in the house on my free time for approximately a month.

Last week, enough snow had melted that I took Adorable Preciousness to the playground.  Of course, it was 40 and windy.  Kind of uncomfortable but I needed to get out.

Another snow.  Now I'm stuck in the house again.  And I hate it.  There is so much that I need to get done...  But it's not going to happen.  Heck, I need to make phone calls to get appointments scheduled, but the businesses are closed due to snow.

I really want to get out to look at and price firearms.  I've been looking at getting an AR and there are a handful that I'm trying to choose from.  Many of the dealers have been cleaned out since December and are now getting some nice models in.  I've been leaning towards a Windham, but a lot of people are complaining that they don't use quality materials or assembly.  My next choice seems to be a S&W, but I can't get any good evaluations on it because once I mention S&W, everyone says to go and buy a Colt.  I'm not going to get a Colt for reasons I won't go into on this post...  But if you ask I'll gladly tell you.  =o)

On that note, can anyone tell me the quality of a Palmetto State Armory rifle?  They keep putting out an $899 deal of AR + nice Optics.  (Such as an Aimpoint Pro.)  I'm half tempted, but not if it's a crappy rifle.

John Lott's Website: Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens unintentionally shows that the 2nd Amendment wasn't meant to just guarantee weapons for the militia

A very interesting article.  John Lott (Author of More Guns, Less Crime) made an interesting argument to the effect of that the statement of wanting to make the amendment "serving militia" only, then in a roundabout way former Justice Stevens is himself admitting that the 2nd amendment is about civilian possession of firearms.

John Lott's Website: Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens unintentionally shows that the 2nd Amendment wasn't meant to just guarantee weapons for the militia

The Liberal Gun Club

This is an interesting read.  Yahoo News: A Gun Club for Liberals: The Un-NRA 

I'm not happy how they color conservatives, but I do know some gun owners like that.  (To be fair, most gun owners I know tend to be more libertarian.)

But, not much time to research this.  I've got to run, so I'll leave without further comment.

Killing of Burleston County Deputy was No Billed.

This is a very interesting article.

Man charged with killing Burleson County Deputy No Billed by Grand Jury

In short, the agency did a "No Knock" entry on his trailer.  The man responded by opening fire with his legally owned firearm.  Mr. McGee's argument was that he was protecting the life of his pregnant girlfriend, and the jury bought that argument.

Please note that the Felony drug charges against Mr. MaGee have proceeded forward, so the man is neither scott free nor clean in my book.

There have been a small handful of self defense arguments where raids end badly for Law Enforcement and turn up no evidence.  With this court decision, I wonder if these arguments will end up at the Supreme Court.

I made it big time!

I got some credit for inspiring this!



Johnny Optimism: Big



OK, it's not much.  Stilton Jarlsberg explains it in the comment section.  I made a comment about "Tickles the clown" dong a puppet show.  (Here's the original web comic that I commented on:  Johnny Optimism: Ate.)  Well, Stilton ran with it.



And that has made me so happy.



Of course, I missed it when it was posted, catching it five days later.  The past few weeks have been very busy.  I'll avoid the details for the time being but I'm just catching up on a lot of e-mail, blogs, and web comics.



Again, thank you Stilton Jarlsberg.

AR-15, TAVOR, and the strange case of money burning a hole in my pocket.

I have recently come into a little money.

Just a little.  About two days worth of Overtime, so it's not a bad amount but it's not enough for me to quit my job and move to a beach house in Aruba.  Obviously my first impulse was to pay off some of my bills as I've been working hard on getting all of my bills paid off and "getting rid" of my credit cards.  But I'm already doing that and I've pretty much cut out all of my hobbies for the past three years in order to get our finances in better shape.  Thus, I've decided that I want to spend it on myself.  I deserve it.

So what do I want to buy?  A firearm.  Quite possibly two.  Or three.  I've been a member of IPSC, IDPA, and even SASS.  But over the past few years I've had to back away from shooting for various reasons...  Mostly because of  what I posted above.

My "Within Reason Wish List" is an AR and a nice tactical shotgun... with the shotgun being easily affordable without the money I just came in to.  One of the local gun stores has been picking up used Remington 870P's from a LE agency that is paring their stock down.  I can tear it down and see what needs replaced (if anything, the 870P's are workhorses) and then work on adding what I want to add to it down the road.  (Furniture, sights, choke, or maybe I'll just leave it as it is.)

Now that I've come in to this extra cash, I've moved up my purchase date for an AR to "As Soon as I Find One I Want."  Honestly, before I had the cash in hand I was looking really hard at a Windham Weaponry MPC.  However I'm a little put off with the fixed front post site.  However, I'm able to get a better deal on it than normal MSRP.  (On an aside, I was linked to this deal at Palmetto State Armory through Glock Talk...  and I'm thinking about it.)

However, I've recently fallen in love with a rifle that I really, really want.  I mean, really want.  A TAVOR.  Ever seen one of those?  It's a beautiful bullpup.  And one of my local gun stores has a great deal on theirs.  Apparently no one is buying it...  Because it is in Flat Dark Earth.

And that is the specific shade of TAVOR that I have dreams of owning.

I can afford this firearm with what I have.  But how can I justify to myself spending two grand on one firearm, when I could buy two entry level AR's and have change left over for sights, furniture, and other accouterments?

Suffice it to say, I don't have the money available for me to spend yet.  I finally got the check today and the bank's ATM won't accept it.  And I'm working straight through until next week...  Eh, it gives me more time to think about my decision.  I'd rather make a good decision and be happy with my rifle than make a rash decision and have regrets down the road.